Pretty is Not Pretty

‘I didn’t look pretty anymore, I had stopped taking care of myself… I was no longer the family hero.’

Cheryl Spera is a trauma-sensitive yoga instructor and the founder of Higher Ground Recovery & Yoga which provides trauma-sensitive yoga classes to substance use and behavioral health facilities in the Philadelphia region. She is a woman in long-term recovery from alcoholism. After two decades of recovery, Cheryl relapsed, and it took her five long years to move from relapse to sobriety. She credits the depth and meaning provided by yoga as integral to her commitment to sobriety and supporting others in their recovery journey.